Stackburn in maize is heat damage characterized by a brown discoloration of the grain resulting from heat build-up in the interior of stacks held in commercial storage in sub-Saharan Africa. Affected maize may be downgraded in commercial markets or have to be diverted for animal-feed use. Where discoloration is severe,...

Tsetse flies (Glossina species) infest over 11 million square km of Africa and are vectors of Trypanosomosis (or Trypanosomiasis) in both humans and domestic livestock. It is estimated that tsetse occurs in over seven percent of Zimbabwe and 60 percent of United Republic of Tanzania territories. Hence Trypanosomosis has an important negative...

Triggered by fiscal challenges, food prices have risen significantly since late 2018, with negativeimpacts on access to food. Lower production prospects for the 2019 cereal crop and constrained import capacity also raise concerns about domestic supplies in 2019/20.

This report unpacks and explores farmer-managed seed systems and their contribution to food and seed sovereignty, including the benefits they provide to farming communities as a part of their sociocultural, economic, spiritual and ecological livelihoods. The report highlights, exposes and explores how these systems work. It builds on reports of...

In Zimbabwe, FAO has been implementing a four year EU funded project to improve food and nutrition security of vulnerable rural communities through participatory sustainable forest management and value addition to forest products. The video tells the story of a beekeeper named Njovana. Njovana now understands that every tree that...

In Zimbabwe, FAO has been implementing a four year EU funded project to improve food and nutrition security of vulnerable rural communities through participatory sustainable forest management and value addition to forest products. The tough protective shell that houses a delectable delight earned the Marula fruit the name, HARD NUT....

This study sought to understand the impact of contract farming on livelihoods among the small-scale farmers in two study districts of Zvimba and Goromonzi which are located in the Mashonaland Provinces. This was done through examining different levels of income earned between contract and non-contract tobacco growers, food consumption rates,...

In Zimbabwe, FAO has been implementing a four year EU funded project to improve food and nutrition security of vulnerable rural communities through participatory sustainable forest management and value addition to forest products. Part of the project includes assisting the government of Zimbabwe in the formulation of a comprehensive forest...

By engaging farmers, technical staff, and public institutions in capacity building and awareness raising, the project enhanced the recognition, prevention and control of tick-borne diseases (TBDs) and transboundary animal diseases (TADs) among stakeholders. Cattle vaccines were procured and administered, and materials on animal diseases were produced in English and IsiNdebele...

The Zimbabwe Land and Agrarian Network (ZiLAN) established in 2012 brings together non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on land and agrarian issues. Membership of the Network comprises organisations involved in research and policy analysis; NGOs working with farmers; farmers’ representative organisations; women’s and youth in agriculture interest groups, and land reform...

The focus of the study is to explore implications of the latest land and agricultural policy pronouncements, discourse and narratives by the new administration on smallholder farmers' access and security on agricultural land. To gather the perspectives, learn and share experiences of farmers, particularly women, relating to tenure security and...

The case stories details farmers' lived experiences in state led contract farming in maize production in Zimbabwe particulalry rural women farmers.

The Miombo woodland is a vast African dryland forest ecosystem covering close to 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The woodlands are characterized by the dominance of Brachystegia species, either alone or in association with Julbernardia and Isoberlinia...

The main cause of food insecurity for many communal households in Zimbabwe is their reliance upon a form of subsistence-based agriculture which is dependent on a limited range of inputs often poorly suited to local conditions. The current agricultural system prioritizes monocropping and grain yield over other factors of food...

This report synthesizes the analysis and findings of a set of seven country impact evaluation studies that explore the impact of cash transfer programmes on household economic decision-making, productive activities and labour allocation in sub-Saharan Africa. The seven countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Results from...

In Zimbabwe, over 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Climate change is threatening agricultural productivity and exacerbating some of Zimbabwe’s key agricultural challenges: low soil fertility, reliance on rain-fed systems, poorly functioning markets, and farmers’ limited access to credit, knowledge and best practices. To address...

It's a busy day for Themba Mundidini, a banana farmer at Mutema irrigation scheme in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Themba is assured of a bumper harvest, the first after five attempts. The source of the successful season is the water sprinklers spewing the precious liquid on the lush banana...

The right of women to hold and use land in Zimbabwe continues to be inequitable in all land tenure regimes, despite the major strides taken in promoting more equitable land redistribution and progressive constitutional reforms. The rights to land available to women in communal and resettlement areas (A1 and older...

The newsletter was produced by the Zimbabwe Land and Agrarian Network (ZiLAN) which was established in 2012 brings together non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on land and agrarian issues. Membership of the Network comprises organisations involved in research and policy analysis; NGOs working with farmers; farmers’ representative organisations; women’s and youth...

Agroecology is deeply rooted in the ecological rationale of traditional small-scale agriculture, representing long established examples of successful agricultural systems characterized by a tremendous diversity of domesticated crop and animal species maintained and enhanced by ingenuous soil, water and biodiversity management regimes, nourished by complex traditional knowledge systems. Such complex...